


so consider this your redemption arc

by somehowcoffee



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team & Blue Rescue Team
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Other, postgame, you may read the relationships as romantic or not; all up to you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-14 15:04:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18950518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowcoffee/pseuds/somehowcoffee
Summary: he doesn’t even know why he’s trying to head for mt. freeze again. mew knows he can’t make it on his own, but he has to try.(aka : gengar can’t just... LEAVE after everything we’ve been through.)





	so consider this your redemption arc

the blastoise is a mountainous silhouette, trudging through the blizzard like nothing.

there’s visible old burns on the right side of its’ body, and it’s partially missing a piece of an ear. as the sunlight reflecting off the glazed evergreen trees glints off of its powerful dual cannons, he spots a crescent moon shaped scar that stretches from the tip of its nose to under one of its eyes.

most notable, however, and the first thing he really notices once it’s close enough, are the bright, red eyes.

unnerving, because—because they…

he _knows_ those eyes, and that’s why it’s the scariest thing. he’d never meant to run away _again_ , because there hadn’t been anymore problems to run away from. the world was safe (and no one ‘cept old xatu knew his role in it), gardevoir was safe (and she no longer knew him), and…

and of course he’d gone alone, because he couldn’t bring his team out here. under what _excuse_ could he even…?

_hey guys, doing some total reevaluating of my entire existence up to this point. come with me, or don’t._

well—

_alright you suckers. i’ve actually had a change of heart, and doing mean things actually makes me feel terrible, and i don’t like feeling that way anymore because i even though deserve it, that doesn’t mean i wanna sit and take it, so instead i’m gonna actually try to do better and i’m gonna do that really far away from everyone. wanna join?_

keheh! no.

regardless, his ever-present grin drops as he meets the only other human-gone-pokemon in the universe.

(named so for those red eyes.)

“ruby! it’s been, uh, a while…” he averts his eyes before bringing them back to her form. “what… what have you been up to? how’s it been?”

when ruby speaks, her voice is _far_ lower than he remembers it, but she’s just as calm. just as ruby-like as always.

“i’ve been good.”

“you, heh, sure got a lot of scars over there… lots of fights?”

“when i was still getting used to my body, a skarmory—“ she taps the tip of her nose, and—he thinks he recalls an itty bitty red-eyed squirtle with a scar on her nose. he’d never really looked, though, but now that she’s so big and not just a pokemon he targets and instead a pokemon he literally sees eye-to-eye with…

well, he’s a ghost type. he can’t receive scars, and he can’t get injuries from any physical attacks.

(does she—or thunder—… do they have scars from that scuffle in sinister woods?)

thankfully, because she’s patient as ever, she answers his silent question when he looks to the large burns on her right side, scattered like paint.

a smile.

“after we took down groudon,” she gestures to the burns with pride, and he winces, thinking— _hadn’t i been the one to challenge her team, to provoke them into taking on that suicide mission?_ “we also, as you know, took on rayquaza.” there’s a scar on the edge of her shell, a furious dragon claw coming too close for comfort. and he realizes : _another mission—but those two are alive because of me._

“and kyogre,” she continues, tapping her damaged ear.

he opens his mouth to continue, but she shakes her head.

“i’m not here to talk about my injuries.”

well, if he were her, he would be fighting himself despite the weather and at this point, it’s only fair if she does. still, he can’t read her.

he’s never been able to. that stupid level of patience and tolerance upset him when they were still rivals. he did _lots_ of annoying things to get a rise out of her.

(nothing ever worked.)

ruby’s never been visibly angry or stressed in her entire life. even when looking for metapod, there was no warning, not even a narrow of the eyes before he got a water gun to the face, and by the time he’d wiped it away, his other team members were on the floor, taken out like _nothing_.

he can’t imagine what she’s capable of now—no, he _can_. rayquaza, kyogre, groudon? capable of taking on gods. (and _winning…!_ )

“you must be cold,” she says, as if she isn’t. she’s a water type, for mew’s sake. “i passed a cave a while back.”

he can kind of understand why thunder follows, despite being the more outspoken of the two. she just has that sort of presence to her. was this the case when she was a squirtle? he doesn’t doubt it.

—

with the storm howling outside, she raises her hand and he lets out a nervous bark of laughter, backing up—

oh. it’s a slip of paper?

ruby isn’t looking at the paper, print side facing him. as he skims it, she reads it aloud, as if she’s memorized it, or something.

“disappearance.”

he knows that handwriting.

“please help : our team leader has been missing for several months now. we know he’s out there and alive (as alive as a ghost can be, anyways), and we would search for him ourselves but we… can’t. any information is good enough, but if you can actually bring him back—“ the word ‘home’ is scratched out. “to the main base, it would be appreciated.”

it’s signed ekans and medicham at the bottom, though ekans’ signature is a streak of black paint given he lacks hands. gengar would still recognize it anywhere.

once he glances up at her in shock, finished, ruby puts the paper away. “i’ve been trying to find you for almost a month now. originally, i thought you’d just gone back to your base after we rescued gardevoir.”

just the mention of her name fills him with shame. a healthy amount of guilt, too.

“why are you in the frosty forest? if you needed to speak with ninetails, i could’ve accompanied—“

oh no, he doesn’t wanna go down this line of questioning.

“heh, why don’t i hit you with another question, instead? where’s your buddy?”

unphased, she replies, “thunder had to visit his family.”

oh. that’s a heavy word. so heavy, it creates a pocket of silence where it sits between them.

silence, and… and the dim reminder that _we really are the only two humans, huh? and—how’s my dad? is he still…_

_geh. don’t think about it._

“didja get lonely?” he jokes, and is only further unnerved when she remains silent. “keheh, i’m not great company, ruby! you, of all pokemon, should know that.”

“she joined an exploration team,” she says, idly rubbing a particularly nasty burn scar on the back of her right hand. “she mentioned being curious about new places, but she may have just wanted to get away from here. she wanted to know if you’d come back, but i can’t answer that for you, gengar. … so i didn’t.”

the expression on his face isn’t as much a smile as it is a grimace.

“it’s called team cha—“

“n-no—“ he starts, and repeats himself, minus the dumb tremble to his voice. “y’don’t have to tell me. i don’t wanna know. i’m just…”

 _upset she’s gone._  
_upset she doesn't remember me._  
_relieved she’s gone._  
_relieved she doesn’t remember me._

“... trying to focus on the future, now. i got eternity ahead of me! i’m gonna live forever, y’know?”

he doesn’t even know why he’s trying. it’s not as if ruby can’t see through him. (literally?)

“gengar,” she begins, and he prepares himself, because every time she brings out his name, it means—“you intend to spend your eternity running?”—she's about to bring the hammer down.

also, yes?

his ears flick. “heh! who said anything about running?”

“you’re allowed to move on—it’s mature. what’s immature is abandonment. that’s just running from your problems, and that’s what got you into this mess.”

—

the storm abates, and they continue moving on.

“keheh, betcha didn’t think you signed up for an escort mission, huh, ruby? how much is my team even paying you?” he taunts, ducking behind her as she rears back and cuts down a mightyena with a heavy brick breaker. (he sticks his tongue out at it. s’what you _get!_ )

at least he could follow her footprints if he loses her.

(she probably wouldn’t let that happen. probably.)

she hums, glancing around the room. there’s several gleaming pairs of eyes staring back at her. “... they’re not. now, hover a little higher than you are right now.”

a confused frown on his face, he obeys, and then watches, eyes wide, as her stance widens, and the very ground begins to tremble with an _earthquake_ that rocks the snow from the trees, cracks the frozen pond adjacent to them.

huh! he didn’t even know that she could learn that move. clearly, she likes using it, because it’s obscenely powerful—so, she’s trained with it.

but—his team isn’t paying… for some reason, he can’t stop thinking about that. over and over again. _ruby came here despite other missions that would’ve paid her more._

why?

he shakes himself out of it.

“show-off,” he whines, raising his pointer finger. a shadow ball winds up his wrist before settling on the claw tip. with a finger-gun, it makes contact with a lairon, sending it scrambling back. “oh, oh—i just figured something out. do you hate escort missions because you can’t use earthquake? kehehe!”

ruby merely glances back at him. it might be an underwhelming reaction, but it’s equivalent to a death glare from her. he’ll take it.

—

she’s extremely busy, tearing into that apple like she is, but he’s gotta ask.

“hey ruby, why’d you come back?”

briefly, she turns her head to look at him, and squints in confusion.

oops, he’s talking to the wrong side. silently, he vanishes and reappears on the side of her good ear before repeating his question.

“come back?” she echoes.

he scoffs. “yeah? you could’ve ditched us and lived back in the human world. wouldn’t blame you. ‘ruby, can you rescue caterpie again?’, ‘ruby, find this for me’, ‘ruby, bring me here’!”

“i like it here,” she says, and he narrows his eyes.

“that’s it? you like it here? you left your family and friends ‘cause you like it here?”

ruby blinks. “don’t get so comfortable.”

“what, did i strike a ner—“

“i stayed because this is the world i helped fight to protect. i stayed because i care for everyone here,” she answers, accompanied with a heavy sigh. with one chomp, she finishes the rest of the apple. “i stayed because i’m needed more over here.”

—

a nervous laugh leaves him. “if, uh, you’re not getting paid, then why’re you… doing this?”

“because i was asked to,” she says, and—“i said, i care for _everyone_ here.”

she leaves it at that.

—

from atop the hill, he can see pokemon square and the connecting whiscash pond, and if he squints, he can make out a few moving dots. one of them is definitely charizard—bright orange.

when he turns back, she’s eyeing him.

“geh... is it a crime to admire the view?”

she tilts her head. “this is where it stops being my escort mission. i’ll see you to your team base.”

oh, she doesn’t know where it is. whoops!

it’s been a while, so he glances from left to right, and back again, before finally settling on the left path, humming to himself. though, he wonders if medicham’s going to deck him the second she sees his face again. likely that she’ll do it, but also unlikely because she wouldn’t make contact. ghost perks.

—

“so, roob—can i call ya roob? i think we’ve bonded enough—when didja finally evolve?”

she ignores the beginning part of that statement. “right after you left.” and then, a pause. “if you need any assistance after today, you know where my base is. if you’re more comfortable speaking with _me_ … i tend to be there during the early morning.”

“are you saying i should wake you up?”

a soft laugh. “my sleeping schedule is not quite like that.”

“then what is it?”

“gengar,” she begins. “if i tell you my sleeping hours, you’ll make a point to stop by at that time.”

he laughs, a loud cackle. “got me there!”

—

ruby stops short once they’re in sight of his base. “alright,” she says. “that’s it. goodbye, gengar.”

“awh, what’s wrong? not gonna walk me to the door?”

she smiles. “i imagine having your hand held all the way home would not do good things to your first impression back.”

“hm. good point. heh, speaking of hand holding…” he extends his own in her direction. “could we shake on it?”

“shake on what?”

“some kinda truce. i’m not good at this sort of thing, but i’m not… i’ve got better things to do than focus on _that_ rivalry.”

there’s no point in trying to be the best if the heroes who saved the world are his competition for the title, and he started out by forcibly trying to recruit others. (... and getting more money than was offered.) how else is his team going to do better? if they want him back at all?

he jumps when her hand engulfs his own. “i’ve never considered us rivals. if you can change the minds of your team, come back to my base so i can let my team know we’re allies, not competition.”

a big grin spreads across his face. “keheh! you can count on seeing my face around more often, whether you like it or not, roob!”

**Author's Note:**

> i havent played pmd: red/blue rescue team in four years+ but, like, sometimes i think about the fact that gengar just LEAVES and the game LETS HIM do that and yknow what? its a no from me. canon is but a suggestion
> 
> anyway hope you thought this was okay <3


End file.
